Rather than focusing on why all the negative things in your life seem to be inescapable or inevitable, focus instead on why they don’t HAVE to be!
your thinking counts in large amounts
Aristotle said “We are what we repeatedly do”.
I’d just like to add:….as a direct result of what we repeatedly think!
doubt + guilt + futility = crappy life
Futility is a uniquely human experience. The poisons of Doubt and Guilt are the key forces responsible for it. And all three forces are incredibly toxic to the human spirit.
But when you manage to tap into your inner reserves of will, you can access the power you need to purge them from your system.
Inoculate yourself against the Doubt & Guilt that corrode your spirit, and you can be assured of maximizing your potential and living your best.
Sure, its hard work, but what an extraordinary payoff!
how to challenge those nasty assumptions
The Scenario: You’re called upon to perform some examination & determination of your circumstances. What’s the best approach?
DIAGNOSIS involves determining the nature of a problem from the symptoms presented.
Insight: The output of DIAGNOSIS is data, which tends to be static. Ascertained by looking at signs & symptoms, DIAGNOSIS illustrates the nature of the problem under consideration.
ANALYSIS involves determining the elements or components of a complex thing.
Insight: The output of ANALYSIS is information, which is by nature more dynamic than simple data. This output is derived from investigating not only the constituent parts of a whole but also their relations in making up that whole.
The Takeaway: If your goal is to challenge assumptions, ANALYSIS is likely to be more useful to you; the more dynamic output can offer forward impetus for your investigation. But if you are looking to simply describe what you’re dealing with, DIAGNOSIS is probably a more useful approach to start with.
a tip on cultivating your dignity
An excellent way to cultivate dignity is by simply refusing to panic.
got any bad habits?
Got any habits you’re not happy with? Do they continue to bum you out?
Try this simple strategy: Take each one in hand and see it for what it really represents: a High Value Opportunity! When you can reframe each one in your mind this way, you’ll find them losing power while you gain control. Give it a try!
look for patterns and find opportunities
We all have patterns in our lives – patterns of thinking, feeling and doing. But have you ever noticed that when you find yourself repeating a pattern you don’t care for, it feels like it has a motive power of its own – either forcing itself on you or “sucking you in” like some powerful giant whirlpool?
The good news is that these impressions are false. The reality is that patterns emerge in our lives only because we keep referring to and running them much like football plays from a playbook. In fact it’s our current energies that actually fuel every pattern we find ourselves “stuck” in. A hard truth? Perhaps. But we run them, they simply cannot run us.
So…where’s the good news again? Right here: no matter how powerful our bad patterns may seem, we always have the option of replacing them with better ones!
Here are two critical pieces of information you need to remember about patterns: First, patterns are constructs of your past, so they have no power to automatically influence your future unless you choose to return to and run them. And second, you always have the freedom & power to choose which patterns you run, and from which playbook.
Try looking at patterns as opportunities to recalibrate your direction, and keep in mind that they can never exist without your permission. They don’t rule – YOU do.